Randy Newman talks about God, Putin and bad movies that make him cry

Randy Newman has made a nice living while piling up two Oscars, three Emmys and six Grammys for soundtracking movies and TV shows. The “Toy Story” franchise wouldn’t be the same without his tunes.

At 73, the master songwriter decided it was time to do some acting himself on his latest album, “Dark Matter,” in multi-character songs such as “The Great Debate,” a circus trial-debate pitting believers against atheists, and “Brothers,” in which John and Bobby Kennedy converse about invading Cuba in the early ’60s.

In an interview, Newman discussed how he continues to find new ways to push himself and his audience in a career that spans six decades and countless indelible songs.

Q: The debate about the existence of God has been there from the start in your work. You’re a self-professed atheist, but you remain fascinated by this issue. Why?

A: It’s something I’ve thought about all my life and in my music. It’s there in “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind),” “Harps and Angels” … it’s such a big deal historically to the present day. The stuff that goes with religion is so powerful — the music, the art, the high ceilings, you can’t compete with it on a level of feeling. That’s why religion “wins” in “The Great Debate.” If you’re agnostic or atheistic battling that, you’re going up against Bach, Mahalia Jackson, the Gospel Pearls. It’s powerful stuff. I love gospel, maybe more than any music.

Q: The orchestra is your instrument just as much as the piano. Do you express yourself differently in a song depending on the musical format?

A: The orchestral stuff was there on the first album (his self-titled 1968 debut). It was like I never heard the Rolling Stones. It was cheating to use a drum almost. I wonder where I would have ended up if I had continued in the vein of (orchestrated songs like) “Davy the Fatboy,” instead of doing a rock record like (his stripped-down 1970 album) “12 Songs.” I think I would have ended up on relief. It would’ve killed me.

Q: Most artists in the rock ’n’ roll era tend to lose their creative luster after the first decade or so. Why do you think you’ve been able to counter that trend in your own career?

A: I’ve been inspired by the way Paul Simon has conducted his artistic career. He’s pushing rhythmically, always trying something different. That album “You’re the One” (Simon’s 2000 album), you knew it was him, but his meters are different. For me, I didn’t know this multiple character thing would come up, but it’s a step in another direction. There’s never been anything I’ve done like “The Great Debate.” It’s like a play in a way, but it’s definitely not Broadway, not the typical Broadway chord changes.

Q: With “Brothers,” why did you focus on the Kennedys?

A: I knew fairly soon it would be about an older brother picking on the enthusiastic younger brother, and I just saw the two of them in the White House as a starting point. That joke about “Dad was right about you,” it’s left there. “What do you mean?” The kid thinks, but the question isn’t answered. You start getting into the dynamics of family and that shared history, for better or worse. Plus the whole thing about us invading a country like Cuba or Grenada, it was exaggerated, but it still rang true to me. You just know this president is going to want to find some small country and throw it against the wall. That’s the way we operate.

Q: “Putin” was released as a single around the time of the 2016 election, but if anything it’s become more relevant since then. Does that surprise you?

A: I thought that might hang in there. What surprises me about it is that the song isn’t that negative. It’s meant to be funny, which is always a good reason for doing something, but I thought I’d be a lot rougher on him than I was. I regret it slightly.

Q: Writing off the headlines is rare for you, though, isn’t it?

A: Basically you’re right, I don’t write songs based on headlines. I wrote “A Few words in Defense of Our Country” (his song written during the presidency of George W. Bush) because I thought that it was the worst administration the country might have had. But compared to now it’s like Winston Churchill. The song is still valid, it rings true now. A (topical) song like (Donovan’s) “The Universal Soldier” holds up. Some Dylan stuff is still pretty reflective of where we are, where we’re going. But no, it’s not what we (songwriters) do. That’s not the usual way for people to write songs. Basically what we do is write love songs. In my case, by the time I kick off, “Feels Like Home” will be more popular than “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” was. People really like it. It’s a straight-ahead song and I feel a lot of people could’ve written it. I’m more interested in songs like the “The Great Debate,” “Brothers,” “Lost Without You.” I can see it — the dying father and mother and the kids in “Lost Without You” — I can tell who they are by what they say in those songs. If I do it well enough, it’s a bit of a visual. For me at my best, it’s what I do.

Q: You write through the voices of these flawed characters, but how much of your personal life is in the songs?

A: People have told me there’s more of me in those songs than I realize. I didn’t think a song like “Wandering Boy” (about a father disconnected from his homeless son) had anything to do with me, but it moved me more than anything I’ve written about. When I first played it for people, I couldn’t get through it. It choked me up. You find yourself choking up at a bad movie and I’m always suspicious, but now I think it’s not about the characters so much as the idea that you see yourself in it. The scene that chokes you up, it’s telling you something about yourself. I have four boys, and when you see homeless people, you realize they all have mothers and fathers.

Q: Are there any of your songs you grow tired of playing?

A: I go through periods of not liking “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “Short People,” various songs. Sometimes I wonder how a song I wrote 50 years ago like “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” has lasted. You go back another 50 years from when it was written and we’re in World War I and (a song like) “There’s a Long Trail A-Winding.” It’s got the same chords. A song like that might get old if not for the audience. They react slightly differently every time. (Bruce) Springsteen was asked about playing some of his songs all the time, and he said the audience provides a lot of the impetus for playing “Born to Run” every night. They provide you with a helluva lot to get you through things. If they weren’t there, we wouldn’t be doing this. It’s such a privilege to play songs and have people come see you do it, and know that something you did in a little room 50 years ago, or five years ago, or best of all, a year ago — new stuff — still matters to them. To play those songs for people, that’s never less than a great privilege.